SARUP SINGH Vs. ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petition is filed at the instance of persons, who claim to be lessees of certain portions of the property from the Gram Panchayat. Intervention was sought in relation to the proceedings of the Additional Director, Consolidation on a petition filed by several persons, who are the private respondents here, under Section 42, against the repartition made under Section 21(1) of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act of 1948.

(2.) The contention of the petitioners therein before the Consolidation Authority was that the property had been entered in the village records as shamilat deh hasab rasad zar khewat and had vested with the right holders of the village and the mutation ordered in the name of the Gram Panchayat by the proceedings dated 03.07.1956 and consequent upon such proceedings, the mutation actually effected on 16.07.1956, were wrong and they were required to be set aside and the property allowed to be partitioned amongst the right holders. The Additional Director accepted the contention partially and held that the mutation effected without giving notice to the right holders was liable to be ignored as non est and the prayer for partition though cannot be granted, the case was required to be remanded to the Consolidation Officer so as to enable determining the shares of the right holders and appropriate order to be passed taking into account the latest jamabandi. All these proceedings came about in the year, 1990 that is, nearly 34 years after the consolidation proceedings. The petitioners here, feeling aggrieved by this order, sought to challenge the same before the Director, who rejected the petition stating that he had no power to review. The petitioners' claim was that they were lessees of the property from the Gram Panchayat and the direction for consideration of the respective shares of the proprietors would seriously prejudice their actual possession of the property and their rights as such lessees.

(3.) Before me, it is vehemently contended by the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners that the issue of alleged wrong mutation cannot be a subject for an adjudication before a Consolidation Officer. The character of property and the ownership could not also be a point of adjudication before the Consolidation Officer especially after the coming into force of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act of 1961. The counsel would rely on the judgment of this Court in Gram Panchayat, Village Kheri Maian v. Director, Consolidation of Holdings, Punjab and others, 2005 141 PunLR 276, that held that the authorities under Consolidation Act have no jurisdiction to adjudicate an issue of the nature and ownership of land reserved for common purposes at the time of consolidation. The counsel would also rely on a judgment of this Court in Piara Singh v. Additional Director, Consolidation of Holdings, Punjab and others, 2005 3 RCR(Civ) 1, to contend that persons, claiming as proprietors and seeking for partition, cannot approach before the Consolidation Authority under Section 42 after two decades and if there was a delay and laches, it shall not be competent for Consolidation Authorities to reopen the order already passed and the scheme effected thereon. Yet another judgment that supports the similar issue of the effect of delay and laches was Joginder Nath alias Joginder Pal v. Sat Pal, 2010 158 PunLR 447.